Title with Advance at UNM:

External Evaluator

Your background in academia:

Jessica is the Director of Research and Evaluation at SmartStart. She obtained her PhD in social work and has extensive experience conducting research and evaluation. Jessica currently oversees all teams and projects at SmartStart. Jessica has served as the lead evaluator for several large-scale evaluation projects, which have spanned the US. Her projects focused on STEM education, research infrastructure, education and workforce development, outreach, and collaboration, and used mixed methods. Many of her projects focused on low-income, minority students pursuing STEM degrees. While at Loyola University Chicago Jessica worked for the Institute on Migration and International Social Work and contributed to several immigration focused research projects, including a global study on immigrant integration to identify best practices for social and economic integration. She also led an impact evaluation of the Illinois Welcoming Centers, a multi-site project focused on community-based services provided to the residents, in particular, to immigrant groups.